antibiotic

UK/ˌæn.ti.baɪˈɒt.ɪk/US/ˌæn.taɪ.baɪˈɑ.tɪk/

nounB1+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,727 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: antibiotics

An antibiotic is medicine that kills bacteria and does nothing against a virus. A course of antibiotics, prescribe an antibiotic, antibiotic resistance.

This is why a doctor will not give one for a cold, which is viral. Finishing the course and not taking one you do not need both matter, because resistance builds in the bacteria rather than in the person, and resistant strains then spread to everybody.

Definitions of antibiotic

1nounantibioticA medicine that kills bacteria.B1+
“The doctor prescribed an antibiotic for her chest infection.”

antibiotic is a medicine.

Also accepted in games: antibiotics

Where it comes from

From anti-, against, plus Greek biotikos, of life. The word was coined in the 1940s as the drugs arrived.

French
antibiotique
English, today
antibiotic

French antibiotique; by surface analysis, anti- + -biotic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Body & Health

Practise this word

antibiotic in the wild

In 2026, Israeli scientists announced the discovery of bacteria able to create dozens of copies of genes which help them survive antibiotics.
Antimicrobial resistance
The term "macrolide antibiotics" tend to refer to just this class.
Macrolide
Quinolone antibiotics are classified into four generations based on their spectrum of activity and chemical modifications.
Quinolone antibiotic
Furthermore, a 2015 study also estimates that global agricultural antibiotic usage will increase by 67% from 2010 to 2030, mainly from increases in use in developing BRIC countries.
Antibiotic use in livestock
Bacterial diseases are a leading cause of death and a future without effective antibiotics would fundamentally change the way modern human as well as veterinary medicine is practised.
Antibiotic use in livestock

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

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